


Stand Up for Your Shit

by BabylonSabby



Category: Homestuck
Genre: ALL OF THEM. - Freeform, All the quadrants., Boyfriends, Friendship, Gen, Insecurity, M/M, upd8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 22:05:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6347425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabylonSabby/pseuds/BabylonSabby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave's always having some kind of mild psychological crisis about his sexuality and how his friends are going to handle it. And Karkat ALWAYS has to be the voice of wisdom, no matter how frustrated he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stand Up for Your Shit

“Stand up for your shit,” Karkat said as he threw up a hand in exasperation to illustrate just how frustrated he was. But when was he not frustrated?

Dave was situated in his lap. Or rather, his head was. The back of his head. The point is, they were in the middle of a feelings jam sesh, and Dave was lying on his back, his skull’s backside all up in the vicinity of Karkat’s crotch. But neither seemed to mind. Dave was comfy and Kar had yet to actually voice a complaint about it. Yet. Dave decided he would worry about it later.

“I can’t,” Dave whined. “What if they don’t like me?”

“Why wouldn’t they like you?”

“I mean…they all think I’m straight or something, I bet.”

“Pffft.”

“What?”

“Rose doesn’t.”

Dave rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well….Rose is Rose. She teases me about my gay all the time. She just KNEW I had a crush on John and you couldn’t convince her otherwise.”

Not that Dave didn’t deny it at the time, either. But when Rose said, “I know,” after he said he ‘loved’ John…she didn’t tease him. It was not a teasing sort of response. It was actually rather genuine. And sweet. Dave loved that about Rose. She knew what he meant when he said it. Romantic love…platonic love…It didn’t matter. She knew how much John meant to Dave. And he liked that she just magically seemed to ‘know’ these things. Every now and then she was a good egg. He couldn’t have picked a better sister.

“I don’t know, Kar,” Dave sighed. “I’m pretty sure most of my friends wouldn’t give a shit, but…” 

He sighed again. Eyes darting off to the side. Plain as day, they were, their shades resting atop the blonde’s chest.

It was just a wee bit difficult in trying to talk to Karkat about this issue. The issue of acceptance. And Dave couldn’t blame him, really. He didn’t know any better. He was raised that homosexuality, which his species didn’t even have a word for, was perfectly normal. Dave wasn’t. He was bombarded day in and day out with homophobic media. It was actually only just recently that he even realized just how toxic all this “normal” shit was. All this “boys will be boys” crap. Of all the times for it to hit him, it hit him now. And it hit him like a ton of bricks.

It was some time later that Karkat and Dave left the makeshift bedroom they had been living in to join Vriska for the ‘meet and greet’ on the frog disc. 

Things were going swimmingly save for the fact that Dave’s fears were little by little starting to come true.

He could go on all day about how hot Jane was and that was fine. Nobody batted an eye.

But he was scared to look at Karkat. Scared that everyone knew. And that if he looked in his direction, it would just confirm everyone’s suspicions. Confirm John’s suspicions. And John, from the kid’s experience so far, was a giant, walking red flag. John was a whole lotta nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not even touchin’ that.

Another thing Dave didn’t want to touch was Bro. 

Bro…or Dirk as Roxy called him…was said to be arriving soon.

And there were several reasons why Dave was a little apprehensive about meeting him.

But again, going back to this delicate subject of ‘sexuality’, Bro was kinda up there with John in the red flag department.

For all Dave knew, Bro was straight as a stick. He was this pillar of masculinity. Quiet. Subtle in his mannerisms and sometimes even downright secretive. The man was a walking tower of well kept secrets. Like a dungeon. A dungeon left behind for thousands of years that was riddled with countless dangers for one to face before they finally got to the nitty gritty of its…spirit. 

Dave, regrettably, never knew Bro’s true spirit. Who he truly was.

Part of him was scared to find out.

Part of him was scared that he wouldn’t like what he saw when he finally looked into Dirk’s heart. If it was tortured as hell, he wasn’t going to like it. If it was terrifying as hell, he sure as hell wasn’t going to like it.

And then…what if…

What if Bro found out about Karkat?

What would he say?

What would he do?

It was already problematic enough that John was acting all confused on the matter. He couldn’t have his own brother, now ex-legal guardian, acting the same if not worse on top of all that. 

So, so far, Dave hadn’t been making much eye contact with the troll. He was relaxed to an extent when he was around. They just did their thing. Everything was fine.

Karkat chit-chatted with the Mayor and Dave went off to be Dave. They were perfectly in harmony with each other.

Except when the issue of their relationship was brought up.

And from the looks of things, it literally just was.

“Dave thinks your mom is hot,” Terezi said bluntly just as John swooped in like the perfect little…diabolical scheming puff of wind he was.

The little shit.

But Terezi, oh, God. TEREZI!

“Terezi, what the fuck, man,” Dave mumbled as he proceeded to plant his face ever so gingerly into his palm.

“I’m a girl, Dave.”

“I know, it’s a figure of speech.”

“Wait,” John added, “I thought you were…gay? I’m so confused.”

“Good,” Dave growled. “Stay confused.”

Dave, like Bro, was not without his own inner turmoil; an ocean full of secrets or some shit like that, ripped right out of Titanic. And John, blessed creature though he was, was starting to tear right through that shroud Dave had built around himself and get straight up to the heart of the matter. Literally. Dave’s soul was being exposed. And Karkat could sense it.

Karkat. Who’d promptly ceased all further conversation with the Mayor and began to peer in Dave’s direction. 

This was of interest to him. His curiosity had been piqued.

Why were they still going on about this ‘gay’ and ‘straight’ business, why were these even…words…that existed? Why were they even concepts, like, what even was this species as a whole? And how did they ever get anything accomplished? God help them. God help them all. How did they even survive this long?

But there was something else he noticed.

Dave was flustered as all hell.

His face was about as red as his pajamas.

And the closer and more inquisitive John seemed to get, the more uncomfortable it appeared to make Dave.

“Dave…” John murmured. “Did I upset you?”

“No, John, I just…ugggh…”

Dave was turning around now. Away from everyone. Burying his fingers in his hair out of frustration.

“Okay, that fuckin’ does it,” Karkat announced, slapping the metal beneath him with his palm as he rose to his feet. “I am so fucking tired of this cagey bullshit. From EVERYONE! Vriska, I know you’re running the show, but I’m gonna take over for a bit.”

By now, he had already approached the crowd, taking note of a certain Jake English’s very bewildered face as he did. The kid was still a little on the quiet side for now.

“I just want to get this fucking out of the way,” Karkat continued once he was sure he had everyone’s attention. “Right here. Right now. Show of hands. Who the fuck has a fucking problem with Dave’s sexual orientation? It’s of my understanding that he ‘floats both ways’. Whatever the fuck.”

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Just silence as his audience gawked at him.

“Nobody?”

More silence.

“Okay then. Dave, you can stop being so fidgety and give John the what for.”

“But I can’t,” Dave growled under his breath, trying his damnedest to make this very public utterance as private as flipping possible. He even shot a glance at John, who only confirmed that yes, he was all ears and eyes. And of course, out to lunch about this whole matter. Just a gawkin’ away!

Dave paused, his breath lodged in his throat as he calculated the exact way to speak next.

“…I don’t want to…start anything.”

His mind flashed back to their last jam sesh.

Stick up for your shit.

He sighed. Welp. Here went nothing.

“John…” he began, slowly turning around to face the heir. “I’m gonna be real with you. I really don’t feel like…I have a whole lot of time right now to sit here and explain to you the nuances of sexual fludity, kapeesh? So…if you can do me a solid, can you just not call me gay or straight?”

John seemed confused as ever, but by the Grace of God, eventually nodded. The smile he gave was the cherry on top.

“Yeah. So, like, basically…what’s that word….You’re…bisexual?”

“Yeah,” Dave shrugged. “I guess. For now. At least until I have another mind boggingly tight wow moment.”

“That’s cool,” his friend chirped. “It actually really is. I’m starting to think now there’s a lot more to people than I originally thought.”

Dave gave a subtle gasp.

“You don’t say.”

The good thing about Dave’s stoic exterior was that one could never tell if he was being genuine or sarcastic. This comment probably would have warranted a smack on the face by someone who caught the actual sarcasm, but John just laughed it off. Did John even know it was sarcastic or did he just laugh at everything? Dave was pretty sure it was a mixture of both. In his own way, John was a master of irony. It really put Striders in all timelines and all universe to shame, if you thought about it.

Well, thank fucking God that was over. Dave could have really used a t-shirt right about now. One of those theme park t-shirts that said, “I survived such and such ride…” with like, your picture on it or some shit. He wanted one that said, “I survived coming out to John Egbert 2K15.”

Karkat was smiling proudly. Borderline smugly. Like he planned this whole fucking thing out or something. His arms were even crossed.

He leaned over and whispered something into Dave’s ear.

Dave’s face was back to being red.

“Oh, my God,” the Strider groaned.

“Defend your shit, Dave.”

As if Karkat’s smirk couldn’t get any more cheekier.

Dave released an exasperated half growl, half sigh before snapping back to attention again.

“Okay, John…everybody….So, me and Kar are a thing—There. You happy now?”

John shouted, but Rose was literally shouting the exact same thing at the exact same fucking time.

“I KNEW IT!” Except Rose threw in a loud “FUCKING” for good measure.

The whole disc was in an uproar. Sans Tavrosprite, Rosesprite, Jake, and a couple of others who honestly couldn’t have cared less.

The ones who did, however, Vriska, Rose, and Terezi were all running around screaming, “Praise Jesus! He finally said it! OOOOHHH,” among other celebratory battle cries. 

There may or may not have even been an approving ‘honk’ coming from within the fridge.

And a high-five or two given.

And there stood Dave, John, and Karkat pretty much at the center of it all, Karkat’s hand having taken up resting on Dave’s shoulder.

“There,” said the troll. “Was that so bad?”

Dave could only facepalm for the hundredth time that day.


End file.
